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Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Though I didn't expect one, I did receive an answer from KLM (see my previous post). Their answer to my first complaint missed the point entirely. I wasn't asking for an upgrade to business class. The letter doesn't even mention the object of my second complaint ...but surely, this passenger ought to remain loyal! That's when my middle finger rises even higher. Conclusion: KLM/AF/Delta customer service is both unhelpful and inept.Here's the response letter:

Mr. Heard,

RE: Case Number XXX

Thank you for your email regarding our upgrade policy.

Please accept my deepest apologies for the unfavorable impression we have given you. It was not our intent in the least, we strive for all of our passengers to have a first rate experience.

With our business class compartment having limited space and our need to be competitive with discounted carriers we have to limit the use of some of our competitive rates to be upgraded to our business class compartment.

I realize this is a disappointment, and trust you will understand our position. We hope you will continue to make KLM your airline of choice.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Though this has nothing to do with gaming whatsoever, I'm annoyed enough with an airline to release a letter I posted on their complaint page. As I promised them that I would, I'm therefore passing my comments along to the public.

To Whom It
May Concern -- Dec. 15 2016

I've been
flying KLM for years now, annually, from the USA to France, for family
reasons. I was very disappointed
yesterday when I found out about some of KLM’s current policies.

First, I
discovered I cannot use my Delta SkyMiles (# XXX) for any sort of upgrade
because my present ticket is rated as “discount” (purchased on Expedia,) or
some such category. It doesn't change
the fact that I spent thousands of dollars with your airline over more than a
decade. As a fidelity “reward” this
stinks.

By the way,
your customer complaint page only accepts FlyBlue in its frequent flyer
field. I'm sure Delta, your partner company, will appreciate how much you care about its customers. Your page also assumes that everyone has a
cell phone (or wishes to share its number with you--which I do not); the
complaint will not be processed further until a number is entered into that
field. I dutifully entered a fake number therefore, just so you know. Please don't call it.

Second, I was
told I could not select my seat at the time of flight reservation unless I paid
more than $20 per flight in extra reservation fees. For me, this adds up to nearly $100. This is apparently a new policy at KLM and
Air France.

Dear KLM
scrooges, you aren't doing loyal customers any favors. This is shitty service! I don't expect an answer from you people, nor
do I believe you'll change anything.
With all due respect, I'll respond with my own policy, which includes my
middle finger and spending my money elsewhere.
This is the last time I fly your airline (or Air France for that
matter). I run a blog that attracted more than 500K pairs of eyes thus far. You can rest assured I'll post this letter
there, free of charge, and tell everyone I know what a smart business your
company is running (. . .you're
welcome.)

Thank you
KLM. You're doing a wonderful job. Maybe in 15-20 years, you'll become an even
more irrelevant airline.

I
grew up in France (mostly), England, Morocco, Washington DC, and Texas. I speak mostly French and English, with a little Spanish, Portuguese, and German. Returning to Nice for my education, I graduated from the lycée hotelier in 1977; I got passionately interested in wargames when I was attending the Lycée ... primarily in Avalon Hill games like Kriegspiel, Luftwaffe, Third Reich, and Panzer Leader
— the classics. There were, of course, no French editions of these
games at the time, so I had to learn the American versions. I loved to travel, so I studied hotel management and worked as a concierge in both France and California.

While living in San Francisco I discovered the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set, and when I returned to Paris I joined my first regular Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) group. I started writing articles on D&D and AD&D for French gaming magazine Casus Belli, and there learned that TSR
was looking for someone to translate the games into French. Well, I
spoke and wrote both languages, and I knew the games, so a request reached Gary Gygax.
By a coincidence, he was just about to come to Paris on business, and
so we set up a meeting. I must have done OK, because he offered me the
job. After a few months of doing translation work in Nice, TSR requested I move to the home office in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. For a sun-loving Mediterranean like me, Wisconsin in February was a bit of a shock.

After working for two years as a translator, I transferred to TSR's Games Division in July
1985 as an Acquisitions Coordinator, in charge of contracting
freelance writers. I also did game design, including adventure
modules CM7, Tree of Life; M1, Into the Maelstrom; and co-authorship of DL12, Dragons of Faith.

I worked on a number of products for the basic Dungeons & Dragons game, including writing the "Voyage of the Princess Ark" series for Dragon magazine, a monthly feature that lasted about three years, as well as other products for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game. I was the Basic D&D line Product Manager for years, during which the beloved D&D Gazetteers and the Rules Cyclopedia were published. I also worked at TSR as the director of production planning and head of games acquisitions.

My son Noel came to this world when TSR went bankrupt. One of the outcomes of the happy event in my life was that I could not follow my colleagues to Renton, Wa, at WotC, which had salvaged most of TSR's creative team. My writing years went on hiatus while I explored other avenues. After some time at US Web near Milwaukee and United Airlines at O'Hare, I'm now back in Wisconsin to re-invent myself and do what I really want to do! This now includes the creation of the World of Calidar.